This invention relates to optical fibers, and particularly to optical fiber couplers comprising two oppositely extending prongs.
Typically, optical fiber transmission lines terminate at both ends in prong-type connectors which are inserted into sockets of optical components interconnected by the fiber. In telephone networks, for example, the optical components are mounted on circuit boards removably housed within equipment cabinets. Although the optical fiber lines can be connected directly to the components on the circuit board, the preferred practice, for avoiding damage of the optical components, is to terminate the fiber lines on sockets fixedly mounted on face plates of the circuit boards. The face plate sockets readily withstand shocks and stresses caused by repeated couplings and decouplings of different transmission lines as is often required for accommodating changes in the network configuration. The faceplate sockets are connected to components on the circuit board by relatively light weight optical fibers which impose little stresses on the components.
A problem addressed by the present invention is the coupling of a faceplate socket to an optical component mounted on the circuit board as closely as possible to the socket for maximum utilization of the circuit board area. For such close spacing coupling, the hereinafter described two-prong coupler was developed. It was subsequently learned that a similar two-prong coupler is commercially available. A description of such known coupler and a comparison of it with the inventive coupler are hereinafter provided. However, while the inventive coupler is advantageously shorter than the known coupler, a full evaluation of the relative merits of the two couplers has not been made.